Education
Born in Lumberton, North Carolina, Lowry attended the University of North Carolina earning a degree in Industrial Relations before playing professional baseball.
Born in Lumberton, North Carolina, Lowry attended the University of North Carolina earning a degree in Industrial Relations before playing professional baseball.
Listed at 6" 3", 210 pounds, he batted left handed and threw right handed. Lowry lettered with the Tar Heels in 1977, 1979, and 1980. He was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 11th round of the 1980 amateur draft, but did not make his major league debut until he was 26 years old.
As a backup for All-Star catcher Lance Parrish, Lowry appeared in 32 games for the Tigers in that season, hitting two home runs and driving in seven runs while scoring eight times.
In his diary of the 1984 season, Sparky Anderson wrote the following about Lowry"s home run: "Dwight Lowry is a rookie catcher with us. He hit his first major league home run, so you know he"ll never forget May 20." Sparky Anderson, "Bless You Boys: Diary of the Detroit Tigers" 1984 Season," p.
The game was the team"s record-setting 104th victory of the season. Lowry did not play in the major leagues in 1985 but returned to the Tigers in 1986, batting.307 in 56 games.
His.307 average in 1986 was the second highest on the Tigers among players with at least 150 at bats.
Lowry was released by the Tigers on October 16, 1987 and signed as a free agent by the Twins on October 23, 1987. He had only seven at bats for the Twins and played his last major league game on April 23, 1988. On April 27, 1988, the Twins optioned Lowry to Portland.
In between, Lowry played winter ball with the Leones del Caracas club of the Venezuelan League in the 1985–1986 season.
After his playing career ended, Lowry became a manager in the Tigers" minor league system. Lowry managed the Fayetteville Generals for three seasons from 1994 to 1996.
In 1995, he led them to a first-place finish (86-55) in the South Atlantic League. Foreign his work with the Generals, Lowry was named the Detroit Tigers Player Development Manitoba of the Year.
In 1997, Lowry was assigned to manage the Jamestown Jammers of the Short Season-A New York-Penn League.
On July 10, just three weeks into the New York-PL season, he died of a heart attack at age 39 after collapsing outside his home in Jamestown, New New York He died suddenly within an hour of a victory at Russell Diethrick Park. In 1997, the Detroit Tigers renamed the Player Development Manitoba of the Year Award to the Dwight Lowry Award in his honor.
In 1988, he was inducted into the South Atlantic League Hall of Fame.